Pear and Walnut Bread

You can put anything onto bread.

Make some dough. You can use a bread maker but it is also easy enough to do by hand. I use about two cupfulls of flour to make a smallish loaf for two people and start the night before using a no-knead method.

In a bowl mix two cups of strong white flour, a teaspoon of dried yeast and the same of salt.

Pour in one cupfull of warm water and mix to a shaggy dough. Cover with a damp tea towel and put aside for a couple of hours whilst the yeast gets going.

If your kitchen is coolish as mine is, then just leave on the counter overnight. If you have a warm kitchen (ie central heating) then put the bowl of dough into the fridge so it doesn't rise too quickly.

Next day the dough will have risen to maybe double the original size. Tip it out onto a floured oven tray, lift and fold the edges into the middle a few times to form a ball then roll out to roughly half an inch thick.

Slice a pear and gently fry the slices in a frying pan with some butter and a little oil, until golden brownish on one side. When I made pear bread the first time I didn’t cook the pear first and the bread came out more wet from the pear juice, but either way will work.

Lay the pear slices all over the dough.

Roll some walnuts in a little oil (I use the left over oil from the pear in the frying pan) and scatter on top.

Run over a little olive oil and sprinkle with soft brown sugar.

Pop the bread into the hot oven and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes, it is done once the bread has risen and crispy and the pears are slightly charred at the edges.

Makes a lovely accompanyment to the slightly sweetness of a plain pumpkin soup, or just some mature cheddar and a few tomatoes.

Enjoy.